CALD Statement No. 4 S. 2014

CALD Youth Statement Calling for an
Immediate and Mutually Agreed Truce on the Gaza-Israel Conflict

“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 3

The Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats youth wing (CALD Youth) strongly calls for an immediate truce between the Hamas Government of the Gaza Strip and Israel. CALD Youth firmly believes that force and violence can never be used to create peace. For as long as the wrath of conflict remains, it makes the restoration of peace more difficult to achieve. The only certain way sustainable peace can ever be achieved is if it is reached through nonviolent, and mutually agreed measures.

CALD Youth is deeply disturbed by the scale of the destruction brought by the latest conflict and its human impact – loss of lives, thousands displaced, fear embedded in to the bloodstreams of both the Israeli and Palestinian communities; and condemns all forms of non-peaceful means, as threats to the inherent human rights to life, liberty, and security.

CALD Youth recognizes that there are long-term consequences of the violence to political stability, economic prosperity, human development, and freedom and democracy, and echoes the international community’s incessant appeal for peaceful negotiations. CALD Youth believes that through regular consultation and open dialogue, peace is attainable, and trusts that parties will agree on a compromise toward a consensual understanding where innocent lives are not put at risk.